If you're talking about the football/basketball/academics combo, then I'd say the following 6 stand out in terms if history and pedigree:

Michigan
Ohio State
Texas
Notre Dame
Florida
UCLA

I highly disagree with ChrisLords with respect to Michigan (and also that it seems to ignore that this isn't just about football). If you ask virtually any public university in America which school they want to emulate in terms of an academics/athletics combo, they'd say Michigan more than any other school by far. They have extraordinary power and influence in college sports (and I don't say that as a Michigan fan at all). To the extent that there's a Big Ten bias, it's because it's having elite academics on top of having an excellent athletic department (and the B1G simply has a heck of a lot more of those types of schools).

(10-31-2013 10:34 PM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  notre dame
texas
michigan
ohio state
penn state

That's a B1G homer view if I ever saw one. You forgot Neb. and Wisc.

Michigan and Penn State have no business being on a top 5 football list or an all time top 5 football list based on the way they've performed this century.

To pick 5 football, I'd have to go with :
Alabama
Texas
Notre Dame
Florida
Auburn - Nat champ 2 years ago and an undefeated in 2004 beats USC who's fallen off and only has 1 NC recently. Ohio State could fit here too because they have an NC and an Undefeated season during the same time period.

Notre Dame gets the add for being ND. No one else could survive the 19 year drought they went through and still be by far the ratings and interest leader for all college football. (Interest includes haters too) If they were ever going to fall off, they'd have done it this past decade.

you do realize i rated this based largely on fanbase support & program wealth right????

not football success

(10-31-2013 10:55 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 10:34 PM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  notre dame
texas
michigan
ohio state
penn state

That's a B1G homer view if I ever saw one. You forgot Neb. and Wisc.

Michigan and Penn State have no business being on a top 5 football list or an all time top 5 football list based on the way they've performed this century.

To pick 5 football, I'd have to go with :
Alabama
Texas
Notre Dame
Florida
Auburn - Nat champ 2 years ago and an undefeated in 2004 beats USC who's fallen off and only has 1 NC recently. Ohio State could fit here too because they have an NC and an Undefeated season during the same time period.

Notre Dame gets the add for being ND. No one else could survive the 19 year drought they went through and still be by far the ratings and interest leader for all college football. (Interest includes haters too) If they were ever going to fall off, they'd have done it this past decade.

you do realize i rated this based largely on fanbase support & program wealth right????

not football success

Who cares about that? UVA Duke and UNC are 3 of the richest programs in the NCAA but they all suck at football. I don't see how you do a top 5 without counting on field performance.

(11-01-2013 12:22 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 10:55 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 10:34 PM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  notre dame
texas
michigan
ohio state
penn state

That's a B1G homer view if I ever saw one. You forgot Neb. and Wisc.

Michigan and Penn State have no business being on a top 5 football list or an all time top 5 football list based on the way they've performed this century.

To pick 5 football, I'd have to go with :
Alabama
Texas
Notre Dame
Florida
Auburn - Nat champ 2 years ago and an undefeated in 2004 beats USC who's fallen off and only has 1 NC recently. Ohio State could fit here too because they have an NC and an Undefeated season during the same time period.

Notre Dame gets the add for being ND. No one else could survive the 19 year drought they went through and still be by far the ratings and interest leader for all college football. (Interest includes haters too) If they were ever going to fall off, they'd have done it this past decade.

you do realize i rated this based largely on fanbase support & program wealth right????

not football success

Who cares about that? UVA Duke and UNC are 3 of the richest programs in the NCAA but they all suck at football. I don't see how you do a top 5 without counting on field performance.

i think you are clueless, delusional and totally missing the point of the thread. if you wanna have a debate based entirely on on-field performance.....go somewhere else

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/s.../finances/

michigan, texas & osu are in the top 3 with a 15 mill lead over the next closest schools.

psu is at #8 due in large part to the psu scandal (they were #2 the year before the scandal)

ND-is private so they are not listed (same with duke)

unc-25th
uva-27th

*

(10-31-2013 10:14 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:55 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:52 PM)Knightsweat Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  notre dame
texas
michigan
ohio state
penn state

IMO these are the 5 strongest programs/schools in the ncaa and that they are on a much higher level than everyone else. although psu might have removed themselves from the group because of a scandal, traditionally they are in this top tier and a lot of other schools dont really come close.

these schools are among the best in academics, consistently top merchandise sales, and have the largest fanbases.

they are a lot less prone to downturns and can still fill their stadiums up & get great recruits even in consistently bad seasons.

Sounds like you need to add them to the list of schools you follow.

i already follow 2 of em

I bet you also root for the New York Yankees, Microsoft, and General Motors.

I like the Yankees, Microsoft (well, it's more I hate Mac), and I'm OK with GM (hey, they're American!)

(10-31-2013 09:51 PM)FargoBison Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 09:33 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 09:28 PM)FargoBison Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 09:22 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 09:20 PM)FargoBison Wrote:  Surprisingly I know a lot of Florida fans that live up here. I think their fanbase is pretty solid. Not sure about bad stretches, I guess they are kind of in one now but I believe they are still top 10 in merchandise.

They also have a very solid overall athletic department. Usually in the top 5 of the rankings NACDA puts out.

florida couldnt even sell its sugar bowl allotment of tickets. michigan sold theirs within days of them going on sale

im sorry but im officially calling this one as no

True but weren't they kind of expected to roll Louisville? I'm not sure that match created a lot of excitement within their fanbase.

it doesnt matter imo. if you want to be considered in that tier by no means should you get less fan support for a neutral sight game to louisville. they were #3 and had a bcs bowl.....theres no way you can downplay that.

psu & ND are very very good at attracting large crowds whereever they go. a reason why i named these 5 programs are.......

ND-has a national catholic following, michigan, osu, psu, texas have massive enrollments. and all 5 have very good academics

that is a big reason for their massive fan support and why they do so well

PSU has what I would call a basketball problem. For that reason I can't really put them in the top 5. Perhaps though Michigan could be swapped with Florida in my top 5...the two are very close.

yeah they have a MASSIVE bb problem. but they have managed to build a very strong athletic program WITHOUT putting much resources into BB. of the other top 20-25 revenue producing programs only psu can say that.

and that FB dominance within the athletic department is very unique to psu and probably was a big reason why the jerry sandusky issue turned into what it became

(11-01-2013 12:48 AM)nzmorange Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 10:14 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:55 PM)john01992 Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:52 PM)Knightsweat Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 08:45 PM)john01992 Wrote:  notre dame
texas
michigan
ohio state
penn state

IMO these are the 5 strongest programs/schools in the ncaa and that they are on a much higher level than everyone else. although psu might have removed themselves from the group because of a scandal, traditionally they are in this top tier and a lot of other schools dont really come close.

these schools are among the best in academics, consistently top merchandise sales, and have the largest fanbases.

they are a lot less prone to downturns and can still fill their stadiums up & get great recruits even in consistently bad seasons.

Sounds like you need to add them to the list of schools you follow.

i already follow 2 of em

I bet you also root for the New York Yankees, Microsoft, and General Motors.

I like the Yankees, Microsoft (well, it's more I hate Mac), and I'm OK with GM (hey, they're American!)

you seriously made me LOL

so far i think its

tier 1
texas
notre dame
osu
michigan
psu

tier 2
alabama
usc
oregon
Oklahoma
nebraska
tennessee

tier 3
florida
aggie
georgia
south carolina
FSU
stanford
wisky
msu
unc
(i could of missed a few schools from this group)

Any list that leaves off Kentucky and Louisville is wrong . Kentucky has 60, 000 + football, 24,000 Basketball, Louisville 55, 000 Football, 22,000 Basketball . And have full houses for Baseball, Soccer, Volleyball. Not many schools come close in fan support in all sports

if i had to pick top 5 based on OVERALL athletic success combined with academics i would choose (in no particular order)
MICHIGAN
NOTRE DAME
STANFORD
UCLA
UNC